Friday, March 30, 2012

1. Either Genesis Star God - Sophia really did reset the whole history of the DT universe. Meaning, the DT archetypes get new support (to replace the Synchros with Exceeds) and the DT story may have a new future, hopefully without Worms. :))

OR

2. This is a recap/reprint of the DT exclusive cards in order to make it available to the Asia countries. I do hope this one is correct so that everyone can experience what the Japanese play.

We can see a trend in Konami.

The TCG boosters are getting released at ALMOST the same time as OCG.
TCG gets their DT exclusives faster now
OCG are getting some TCG exclusives even outside EXP boosters (eg. Zenmaines)
(If No.2 is correct) DT exclusives are now being reprinted for the Asia region.

If this continues, we might see a yugiworld where we wont need to divide ourselves as TCG or OCG!
Now that is cool. :) Hopefully Sophia (though his/her art IS henious) really do reset YGO history.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Dark World won TCG's 100th YCS Anniversary Tournament that was attended by who-knows-how-many-there-are-really duelists that were estimated to be 4200+.

Congratulations to the winner - Michael Balan - as (quoting him) he defeated a total of 7 Rabbit matchups.
The first thing that came to my mind was...

.......how the hell did Grapha survive Macro Cosmos???

Surely it was not because of the Gellenduo that Balan sided. (lol, what happened to good ol' Snowman?)
Royal Decree may be a relevant factor but it wasn't like Rabbit players don't expect it against them. Decree is the first card I WOULD side in against Rabbit (after Snowman Eater/Rykos).

So how did Grapha and his armies win?
(im surprised I dont see Grapha making a proud post at the Konami blog yet)

Its coz the Rabbit player drew the worst hand possible in a finals match.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Went to the official store yesterday to join the first tournament of the new banlist.

(Can't say new format since it is still Inzector-Ragia-Windup format).

3/3/12 Asia Format

Participants: 16

Deck Used: Inzectors

My objective for today is to try using Card Car D in the deck and feel if it is beneficial or not.

From the usual decklist of Trooper Inzectors I removed...

-1 Armageddon Knight (ran only 1 copy before)

-1 Effect Veiler (ran 3 copies before)

-1 MST (ran 2 copies before)

to add...

+1 Gruf

+2 Card Car D

Replacing Armaknight with Inzector Gruf is common sense since Gruf satisfies the reason why we run Armaknight (to get Hornet). My theory-oh tells me that even though I reduce the copies of Veiler and MST, with 2 Card Car D's replacing them, I should still have the same odds of drawing them back. Also, I dont like to use 3 Cars since I dont want to draw another Car with the effect. This is also the reason why I reduced Veiler and only added 1 Gruf.

G2 = (I side out Cars when I go 2nd) My Hornet gets Crowed. Went back and forth using all the luck I have to counter all his Inzector plays. When it came to the point that he had no more Inzector in the deck, no card in hand, and only Revise, Leviair, and Centi on field, my luck ran out and didnt draw any Centi or Damsel to pair with my Foolish Burial in hand.

G3 = Drew 2 with Car again and got Allure and another Car when I had no DARKs in hand. lol. I hate drawing a 2nd Car. Again, stalled his play using Reborn on his Hornet and hid it under Zenmaines. In the end, a Veiler on his Inzektor then spamming my own won the game.

Round2: vs. Orlando Rivera (Wind-up Inzectors) 0-x-0*won die?

Cant remember much from this except that I, again, drew Car B with Car A's effect. >_< Damn. Should I just play 1 Card Car D? Good thing I had Duality too to get good traps. Also, I recall using Maxx C when he tried to loop me. He continued and tossed my Damsels but got 8? hand cards after his stunts and Soul Release. Still won coz of super card advantage.

Semis: vs. Rabbit Ragiax-0-x *lost die

G1 = 1st turn Ragia with backrows of Demon's Chain, etc. Didn't have a good draw to retaliate so I tried to bait his Ragia's effect with Car since I have Storm drawn., but he didn't lol. This is the matchup where I regret not maining 2 MSTs.

G2 = 1st turn Car + Duality with set Warning and Decree. He summons Sabersaurus, I negated it. He set 3 cards. I used Decree. I forgot how he tried to remove Decree but he failed to do so. He had 2 Shadow Mirrors, Fiendish Chain, and Cosmos? facedown. wow.

G3 = I got him pinned by Decree but didnt have Inzectors to apply pressure. He beat me down to 1700LP then I got Centipede. Killed his Breaker and Grand Mole on field. But died when he used Dark Hole and attacked directly with his top draw Guaiba (his only monster).

The Finals match was Ragia vs Ragia so I didnt watch it anymore.

In the end I get another Booster Pack as prize for getting to Semis, lol. Got the Cyda-like Hieroglyph and sold it. Well, at least I get my entrance money back, lol. Plus, I get good practice against Inzectors and Ragia.

Card Car D was playing 50-50 in my mind now. I hate drawing Car then Car again. Next time I'll try to just main 1 Car and replace the other with another Gruf.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

The vids of the recently ended Philippine ACQ aren't ready yet (still being annotated and uploaded) so I'll post something about new stuff from GAOV that caught the attention of players.

First let's have the new card to join the ranks of Duality, Formula, Librarian, etc as generic draw card.

Card Car D
EARTH/Machine/Effect
800/400Cannot be Special Summoned. During your Main Phase 1, if this card was Normal Summoned during this turn: You can Tribute it; draw 2 cards, and enter your End Phase. You cannot Special Summon monsters during this turn.

It is a monster version of Pot of Greed but with a little restriction: you get 2 cards in exchange to proceeding to your End Phase. Meaning, whatever those cards you draw with this are useless for that turn as you cant use/set them right away. Of course, some cards can bypass this drawback such as "hand traps" - like Veiler and Maxx C - and Quick-play Spells that you can activate during the End Phase.

One way to use this is to do everything you can without making a normal summon before you play this card. Abusing Card Car D along with Pot of Duality will let you see a total of 11 cards from your deck on your first turn (Draw 6 >> Duality reveals 3 >> Car draws 2 more). You can see a total of 13 cards if you factor Allure of Darkness in, lol. Expect to see ppl using Duality, set traps, then summon Car to draw 2 and end turn.

Card Car D is definitely another game-changing card. Of course, everyone likes a free +1 but hates to let their opponent do the same. Thus, you can expect Car to get spammed by Veiler as it totally erases Car's effect since Car can only be tributed to draw during the turn it was normal summoned.

The second card is not a generic-use card but a support for an already powerful theme - Inzecters!

Inzecter Gruf
DARK/Insect/Effect
500/100Once per turn: You can equip 1 "Inzektor" monster from your hand or Graveyard to this card. While this card is equipped to a monster, increase the equipped monster's Level by 2, and gains ATK and DEF equal to this card's ATK and DEF respectively. You can send this Equip Card to the Graveyard to target 1 monster you control; increase its Level by 1 or 2.

This lets Inzecters summon Ranks 4 and 5 monsters with ease with a single Damsel. Remember when Summoner Monk is used just to dump Hornet with Armaknight and make a Lavalval Chain? With Gruf, you can get the same results without risking your life with Monk!

With Gruf, you can make the following Xyz monsters and benefit!

Rank 4s
1. Lavalval Chain = mill a Hornet or place Dark Armed Dragon or Damsel on your top deck
2. Daigusta Emeral = reshuffle your used Damsels and Centipedes back to your deck to draw more stuff

Rank 5s
1. Tyrus = big monster that cant be destroyed except battle and destroys a card each time it attacks? wow
2. Volcasaurus = we know why Ring of Destruction is banned right? plus, this guy can attack too!
3. Inzecter Exa-Stag = can steal opponent's field/GY monster and equip to this guy
4. Ninja - Crimson Shadow = great on turn1 as it can't be destroyed for 2 turns!

Plus, the chances of you making a Inzecter stunt on Turn 1 marginally increases! Oh, and dont forget the new Rank 3 Xyz monsters that are coming out in Starter Deck 2012! Surely, Inzecters are receiving much love from Konami. lol

The last card is an Xyz monsters that looks mediocre but is actually pretty well designed.

Thunderclap Knight - Gaia Dragoon
WIND/Dragon/Xyz/Effect
2600/2100
2 Level 7 monsters
You can also Xyz Summon this card by using 1 face-up Rank 5 or 6 Xyz Monster you control as the Xyz Material. (Xyz Materials attached to that monster also become Xyz Materials of this card.) If this card attacks a Defense Position monster, inflict piercing Battle Damage to your opponent.

What's so great about this card is the fact that you can Xyz summon it on top of any Rank 5 or 6 monster for free - just like how you summon Chaos Hope Ray.

Summon this on top of Volcasaurus after you use its burn effect to be able to do a direct attack! This single move could possible end a duel outright! In a Hieroglyph deck, summon this on top of a used Atumus to be able to attack. Basically, you get to bypass the drawbacks a Rank 5 or 6 Xyz monster has in exchange for their powerful effects.

This ends my list of cards that caught my attention in the latest set GAOV. Konami is pushing products fast as in March we'll get Starter Deck 2012; then, come April we'll get set 801 "Return of the Duelist". Let's hope my money doesn't wear out faster than how new products come out, lol.